BuzzFeed - Angela Mazzolini, accredited financial counselor and program director of Red to Black at Texas Tech University, talked to BuzzFeed about what people should know about their student loans.
"Currently there are three repayment plans — Income Based Repayment, Income Contingent Repayment, and Pay As You Earn — that allow your [federal] loan to be forgiven after you have made payments for 20 or 25 years, depending on when you took out the loan," wrote Angela Mazzolini, accredited financial counselor and program director of Red to Black at Texas Tech University, in an email to BuzzFeed. These are plans that base your monthly payments on your discretionary income — or, the amount of money you make that is above the national poverty line — but they also require you meet specific guidelines and that you reapply each year. "Just as a note," Mazzolini added, "any debt that is forgiven under one of these plans may be considered taxable income."